Venice

A lovely town.  One you must visit, although it’s still not my favorite Italian city.  That spot (so far) is reserved for Verona, just an hour up the autostrada towards Milan.  But other than speeding through Verona, Goddess and I didn’t make it there this trip.  But we will.  Plus, there’s a lot Italy we have to explore.

And a lot of great wine.

So anyway, Goddess and I arrived on a Saturday evening.  After checking into the hotel to find our hotel room very cramped and reeking of cigarette smoke (both typical Italian hotel experiences), we headed off to find some dinner.  We got a recommendation from the lady working the hotel’s front desk and off we went.  We think we found the place that she recommended, mainly because there really weren’t any other options in the small downtown area of Mogliano Veneto.  We arrived “American early”, meaning around 7pm, which is at least an hour or so earlier than anyone else in Europe shows up for dinner.  So we had the place to ourselves. 

The food was good and the wine was better.  Apparently everyone else knew too, because the place filled up quickly after 8pm.  We enjoyed taking our time, but apparently not as much as the wait staff.  Once we were done, we asked three separate people and waited 25 minutes for our bill, even though they kept walking by not very busy.  It actually took us getting up to walk out before they moved.  Funny how that works.

So the next morning we headed off into the city.  Visiting Venice by train is the way to go, since parking VERY expensive (more later) and once you’re in the city, you can’t drive anyway.  So it’s better to get delivered directly to the grand canal with no traffic hassles.  And here’s the welcome:

As you can see, it’s pretty busy, even though it’s only 9am.  The tourists are already bustling around, making the walkways quite crowded.  But not unbearably so.

Goddess and I had rushed out of the house and had left behind my Venice maps from my last visit, which was just over ten years ago.  The beauty of the city is that it couldn’t change that much in ten years.  Sure, the shops may change owners, but the cathedrals, squares and markets would be in the same place.  So we had to buy another map.  At tourist prices.  And that became a recurring theme over the next two days.

Once we got walking, we noticed that there were people running down the alleys, each wearing a race number.  Very odd, considering the large number of tourists.  But these folks were clearly in hurry to get places, so they were definitely racing.  We watched a few and realized that it was an orienteering race.  The folks had their map and compass and would have to pause to get their bearings before taking off again.  It was fun to watch them weave their way through the crowds.  Some even at a pretty brisk run.  And I’m sure they enjoyed the ramps from the Venice Marathon, which was held just two weeks before.  I know those ramps made it easier to get over some of the bridges than actually running up the steps.  Hell, it made it easier for us to walk.

We worked our way to Piazza San Marco, passing canal after canal after canal.  One thing I found interesting was how green the water appeared.  It almost didn’t seem natural.  But it certainly was.  Even out in the open water, it was a different shade of green, but nowhere as bright as within the small canals, framed by the pastel colored buildings.

Once we arrived at the Piazza, we decided it was time to sit down and watch the world go by.  We sat at one of the cafés and ordered our coffees – me a Doppio (double espresso) and Goddess a cappuccino.  The total was €18, which works out to about $27.  Tourist prices. 

At least we got water and a chocolate with it.

But it wasn’t all bad.  We sat for the better part of an hour watching people go by, taking in the view of St Mark’s Basilica and clock tower.  We did what we do best – people watch.  One nice surprise was to see a young Asian couple, newly married, parade out and get their pictures taken in front of many of the buildings. 

Lovely couple.

After a while, we decided to head down along the waterfront.  Outside of the canals, this to me is the best view in Venice.

That’s the Basilica di San Giorgio Maggiore in the background.  A phenomenal complex that I’ve yet to visit.

So, being the tourists that we are, we decided to do the gondola ride.  If you go, beware that it is not cheap.  Bring the suitcase.  But it’s worth every second.  I’ve spent many hours roaming down side alleys, through doorways and into hidden courtyards.  But this is a completely different view of the city.  At one point our gondolier actually apologized for a jet flying overhead on its approach into the airport; he was upset that it shattered the calm.

But unlike the movies, he never sang for us.

Again, worth every penny.

And those of you who’ve traveled with me know how much I hate doing the touristy things.  I’d rather explore the back alleys.

Which is what Goddess and I did the rest of Sunday, well into the evening.

And we returned Monday.

Monday was definitely different.  The city shifted energies, away from a tourist-focused city to a living, breathing city on Monday.  The markets burst to life, the canals were packed with boat traffic as deliveries were made, and children filled the streets on their way to/from school.  And the tourists were still everywhere.

So we went the other direction.  To the point that the locals were looking at us funny, because it’s pretty obvious when two blonde folks are walking down a back alley in Venice that they aren’t locals.

And we’re better for the experience.

If you subscribe to National Geographic, then you saw this past Augusts’ article “Vanishing Venice”.  A wonderfully well-written, well photographed article (as you’d expect from NG) that delves into the disappearing native Venetian population.  But we caught glimpses of them at every turn.

Plus we got away from the tourist prices.

Believe it or not, this lunch (wine included) cost less than our two coffees in Piazza San Marco.

And we had it the tables all to ourselves along the side of a canal.

It was too cold for the Venetians to come out to take our order.  It was in the mid 60s (Fahrenheit for you snarky comments [you know who you are]).  But we sat out, sans jackets, and enjoyed the lovely day.

Soon it was time to make our way back across the city to look at carnivale masks. 

When I was here in 1999, I found one that I wanted to get Goddess.  We were dating at the time and I wanted to bring her a bit of this part of the world.  So I found the one I wanted to get her, then decided to go out and do some comparison shopping.  When I returned to buy it, the owner had taken her lunch siesta, but had hung the sign that she’d return at 2pm.  Well, 2pm came and went.  By 330pm I had to leave for the airport to catch my flight, which I did without the mask.

So ten years later we were in the store, picking out the ones that she wanted.  She walked out with a few.  All beautiful, including one that’s freaky (to me) when she puts it on.  But those will remain invisible to y’all until we find an opportunity to wear them.

But here’s one that was on the wall.

After that, we headed back to the garage to pick up our car.

Where we needed a suitcase of money to spring it free.

Since we had checked out of our hotel that morning, we couldn’t leave the car in their massive parking lot of four spots.  So we drove it to Venice, full of suitcases, then parked it in one of the towering parking garages at the city entrance that had a flat rate for any amount of time for under twelve hours.  The flat rate was the low, low price of €24 (that’s $36 USD).

From there we did a fine, fine job of getting lost in northern Italy.  But that’s a different story that involves not updating our GPS with new maps since we bought it.

But I won’t tell that here.

Next stop, a few places in Northern Italy (once we figured out where we were).

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BTW, you can click on each of the photos above.  The ones with the borders around them will just take you to a larger version of the image.  The ones with the blue lined borders will take you to my website, where a few other images are loaded.  I’ll be adding more in the coming days.  And if you see one you like, please consider buying it.  I’ve gotta pay for the parking somehow.  ;^)

November. A whirlwind tour.

Wow.  It’s been a busy month.  The first week of November was enjoyed here at home.  The rest of November has been enjoyed elsewhere.

Running and riding have definitely taken a back seat during the past three weeks, but it’s time to kick it back into gear.

The next few posts will show you a bit of what we’ve been doing, but here’s the Reader’s Digest version.

First off, a week of professional development in a lodge high up in the Bavarian Alps, just across the border from Salzburg, Austria.  Staying at the lodge was a bit eerie, considering it was a hideout for Dietrich Eckart, a man who considered himself Adolf Hitler’s mentor.  There was even a picture (right) in the lodge of Hitler and a couple of his cronies looking up at the  lodge.  All that aside, it’s a beautiful area, although it was gloomy every day except for the morning we drove out.  We were high enough up the slopes that we were in the clouds the whole time.  Luckily Goddess and I would be see more of the area a week later.

Next was a quick overnight back home to wash clothes, repack and scoop up Goddess for the next couple of weeks.  We were off the next day to say farewell and thank you to someone who has served her country for more than 20 years.  What better reason to get together and celebrate?  Well, we did.  But we also played it a bit safe, since Goddess and I had a long drive ahead of us the next day.

By the next evening, Goddess and I were enjoying real Italian food and great wine in Mogliano Veneto, just two stops up the train line from Venice.  Unless you’ve got a suitcase full of money, staying in Venice is really not an option.  Especially if you have a car that you need to park.  Well, I packed well, but no suitcases full of money.  So we stayed outside the city.  That worked fine too, since we just left the car parked and used public transportation.  A bonus after enjoying a glass (or three) of wine.

So after two days of exploring Venice, we headed up the road to another work-related conference.  While I sat in meetings, Goddess explored the countryside and brought a few cases of local wines that she liked back to the room.  At one point we actually discussed mailing some clothes home so that we’d have room in the car for the wine.  That’s a sign of a good trip.

Once that conference was over, Goddess and I pointed the car north, drove through Austria, and ended back in the same town (Berchtesgaden) that I was in the week before.  A beautiful town.  Luckily the weather had cleared and the Alps were visible the entire time.  Unfortunately, not much snow.  But that was OK, since we were able to hike.  After a couple of nights there we pointed the car towards home.  But didn’t make it (yet).

Instead, we stopped for a few nights in Munich.  It truly is a wonderful city.  We made the most of our time there, although one evening of touring the beer breweries really impacted our sightseeing the next day.  We’ll need to go back again to see a few of the museums, but we also know that if we don’t make it back, we definitely did our best to get the feel of the city and we’d be satisfied with that.

Finally, we made it back home and basically collapsed.  Just in time for Thanksgiving, even though the cupboards were bare and the turkey was frozen.  Luckily some friends called that morning and invited us over for dinner and conversation. 

Anyway, that’s the month in a nutshell.  I’ll be posting pictures and words from our trip in separate posts in the coming days.  It’s really been a while (over three years) since I’ve shot so many images in a trip.  So it’s taking me a while to get back into the groove of processing. 

Plus, naps keep getting in the way.  ;^)

Catching Up

Wow, it’s been almost two months since the last post.  But if you read the last post, you’ll know why.  At first our self-imposed disconnect from the world was just that, self-imposed.  Then it became a matter of dealing with a monopoly – Deutsch Telecom, the “friendly” face that brings T-Mobile to the world.  When dealing with a monopoly, just remember that the customer’s needs only come first, well, never.

But we may see some movement this week.  I’m not holding my breath.

In the meantime, we’ve been busy and have seen a few things.

- Garmisch, Germany.  Goddess took a side trip across Austria to do some wine shopping and sightseeing in Italy.

- Neuschwanstein, Germany.

- Amsterdam, The Netherlands.  You must go if only to visit the Ann Frank House.  Goddess and I will tie the whole story together soon with a trip to Auschwitz.

Pics will be uploaded once we have a connection at home and I have time to process them.

We hope all is well with you!

Walden Pond (of sorts)

Nope, we didn’t build the house with our own hands.  Our closest neighbor is mere inches away.

But Goddess and I have made our retreat.

We’ve been in our home for a month now.  We finally received the last of our household goods a couple of weeks ago.  Most of the boxes are gone, although there’s still unpacking to do.  One musn’t rush these things, you know.  One of our most interesting dilemmas is that we’re going from a family of three (plus dog) to a family of two (plus dog), so we really don’t need anywhere near as much stuff as we do.  So we’re whittling stuff down a bit. 

Perhaps the most enjoyable part has been we’ve done a fine job of disconnecting from the world.  Don’t get me wrong.  We’re socializing quite a bit and getting out and doing all sorts of things in this beautiful country.  But we’re disconnected.

We don’t have TV, phone or internet in the house. 

It’s quite nice.

Really.

I did finally connect the DVD player to the TV the other night and we watched part of a movie, but that’s been it. 

I catch a bit of news on the computer here at work, do a quick check of e-mails and some very light browsing at moments like this when I need a break from work, but other than that, we are, for all intents and purposes, disconnected.

Now it won’t last forever.  We know that.  Daylight is rapidly shrinking towards those winter days where we have only eight hours of daylight, which just happens to coincide with the hours that I’m at work.  And it will be cold enough that we can’t sit out on the back porch for hours after sunset.  So we’ll slowly reconnect.

But one musn’t rush these things, you know.

Still Alive

We’re settling in here in Germany.  We’ve got a house, some of our belongings and our car.  Now we’re just waiting for the rest of our stuff to get here.

In the meantime, we’ve yet to arrange for cable or internet.  It’s actually quite nice.  I’ve managed to read a few books that I’ve been carrying around for years, relax and spend lots of quality time with Goddess.  The downside is that since we don’t have internet or TV at the house, we do feel a bit isolated and out of touch.  Although that’s not that bad, now is it?

Luckily I have access at work so I can catch up on news.

As far as a house goes, we’ve got native.  We picked a town that isn’t too far from work, nor is it too close.  It’s about 20km, which is a nice cycling commute.  Within a five minute walk we’ve got three beer gardens, a butcher, a baker (nope, no candlestick maker) and several other stores.  If we expand our walk out to ten minutes, the number of beer gardens skyrockets.  As far as neighbors, there aren’t any other Americans that we’re aware of.

Just 15 minutes away on foot is the Hockenheim Ring.  A neat place with events going on constantly.  The neighbors tell us that when the Formula 1 is in town, a few hundred thousand folks show up and it gets quite loud.  We’re looking forward to it.

Speaking of loud, Goddess and I spent the 4th of July with a lot of noise and some fireworks.  At the ring was a festival called Sonisphere, where some 40,000 showed up to see this lineup:

20:45 – 22:45 METALLICA

18:35 – 20:05 DIE TOTEN HOSEN

16:55 – 18:05 THE PRODIGY

15:40 – 16:35 IN EXTREMO

14:30 – 15:15 DOWN

13:30 – 14:10 LAMB OF GOD

12:30 – 13:10 MASTODON

11:45 – 12:15 ANTHRAX

11:00 – 11:30 FIVE AND THE RED ONE

As you can see, that was 12 hours of standing on asphalt in the hot sun.  But overall the show was quite good.  It was my first time seeing Anthrax, who I’ve listened to for 20+ years.  This was the second time for Lamb of God, who does alright.  The second time for both Goddess and I to see The Prodigy – the last time was in Tokyo.  And this makes Metallica show number five for me.  They always do well and never disappoint.

The biggest surprises for us were In Extremo and Die Toten Hosen.  What Great Bands!!!!  I cannot recommend either highly enough.  It was great to see all 40,000 fans (well,  minus us two Americans) singing along to each and every song that Die Toten Hosen played.  Go buy some now.

But now a word for Phil Anselmo, singer for the band Down.  Even though you’ve were the frontman for a great band (Pantera), the fans owe you and the other members of your group nothing. 

Not a damn thing. 

By the time you guys took the stage after 3pm, many of us had been standing out in the hot sun for hours.  Most hadn’t had anything to eat or drink for hours either for fear of losing their spot in front of the stage.  All that any of the folks in audience wanted was a good show. 

You didn’t bring it.

At best, you and your band were lackluster, offering nothing more or better than any other generic American band that throws a few heavy riffs together behind a growling singer.  Meh.  The reason the crowd wasn’t responding to you was because you guys didn’t entertain.

Instead, you stood on stage and whined, even telling the paying crowd at one point that we sucked.  Classy move, telling paying customers and potential fans that they suck.  But it wasn’t the fans.  It was you.

So next time, stay home and pout, leaving that 45 minutes available to a band that really matters.

Like Anthrax.

Who played a woefully short 30-minute set.

Anyway, Goddess and I continue our adventure, sampling as much food, beer and wine as Germany can offer.

Craziness

Pure craziness.

That’s how this week has been.

After last Saturday night’s 20-mile RUTS, we headed back to the room.  The next day we were planning on running a local 5K; seriously, who can pass up a 5K put on by the local brew house?  Well, we did.  Too much going on.  A quick visit and farewell with some friends, then back to the room to finish packing.

Monday was quite hectic, with picking up the rental beast (Suburban), loading it up, then heading to work to finalize some things.  Then the drive towards Atlanta.  We had no plans on making it all the way to Atlanta, but as we got to where we planned on spending the night, we realized that we had just about an hour more of light traffic ahead of us, instead of 90+ minutes of morning traffic headed in to the city.  

Tuesday was the big day.  Thanks to some poor timing with turning the rental beast in at the airport, we had eight hours to spend in the airport before takeoff.  But we had a good time, sitting back and watching everyone walk by and gaze into Skinny’s travel kennel.  He made lots of friends.  One the airline counter opened a few hours before takeoff, we made sure Skinny was fed, walked and evacuated before we checked in.  It was nerve-wracking turning him over to the airline, but he seemed to be taking it in stride.

The flight on Lufthansa was fairly nice.  It was a bit interesting, being only two days after the loss of the Air France flight, there were some nervous folks.  Especially when we hit some turbulence over New York.  But none were worse for wear. 

We got to Frankfurt, anxious to see how Skinny did.  He came out on the conveyer belt and didn’t look any different than he did any other day.  After about 12 hours in the box, he was happy to get out and walk around, which was the only way we were going to get him out of the baggage check area.  There’s just no way that Goddess and I could pick up the crate with him in it.

The rest of Wednesday we fought to stay awake as long as we could.  That happened to be 8pm, which is about 90 minutes before sunset here.  We were good with that, but not good with being wide awake at midnight.  Luckily the convenience store was open, so we could go pick up some local beer and relax in the room until we fell back asleep at 3am.

The next few days have been taking care of some work stuff, getting to meet folks, fighting jet lag and just adjusting.  It sure is a beautiful country.

Goddess is truly a goddess.  Just a few days before we left the states, I was asked if we wanted to attend a formal ball on Saturday, just three days after we arrived.  Of course, the invitation came just a few days after her gowns and shoes were packed.  Being the trooper that she is, she agreed.  So she was scooped up by a couple of the spouses here on Friday and spent the day shopping for a dress and shoes.  Luckily she has that option here, unlike Japan where all of the women were a size –5.  They did a fine, fine job and she looked absolutely gorgeous (much like she does every day).

Sorry, no pictures.  You’ll just have to take my word for it.

This coming week will be good.  We’ll finally get to look for a house (some bureaucratic red tape got in the way this week), get our licenses (more red tape) and decide where to live.  There are plenty of beautiful villages around to pick from.

Wish us luck.

RUTS – A Training Run

This isn’t a race report.  A race didn’t happen.

For me, anyway.

A 90-minute drive out to Paducah, packet pickup, scouting out the course (a 1/2-mile horse track) and a bit of futzing around and “GO” was yelled just after 8pm.

Since it was a 10-hour time trial, there wasn’t too much movement at first.  Other than the relay teams, which took off like bats out of hell, the rest of us settled in to somewhere near a 9-10 minute/mile pace.  Early on the hoof marks from the horses gave some of us a concern, especially wondering what they’d be like at 3 am when we were all tired.  Luckily they were flattened out a bit in the first couple of hours.

The first few miles were a bit stiff, which was understandable considering I hadn’t run in three weeks and other than the Country Music Marathon, hadn’t run anything longer than seven miles since April 16th, over six weeks ago.

Since the track was slightly banked, the plan was to run the standard counter-clockwise for the first two hours, then switch to clockwise for two hours, then back to counter-clockwise for two hours, continuing to the end.  That worked well, switching up the scenery a bit every two hours so that you weren’t looking at the exact same turns/straights for ten hours.

I talked to a couple of people in the first couple of hours, mostly because they were interested in my 6-minute run/1-minute walk strategy.  So we talked as long as the run or walk session lasted, then I continued.

The one beauty of this run was that I got to do what I haven’t been able to do since I haven’t been running – think about whatever comes to mind.  Mind you, my brain is usually going a million miles a second on a variety of topics at once.  But when I run, I can actually settle on one topic and think it through.  And that’s how this race became a training run.

The legs were feeling real good during miles 7-18, but I had already thought things through.  I wasn’t going to run the full ten hours.  There was still way too much stuff to be done to get us ready to fly to Germany on Tuesday and my taking all night to run ten hours, then sleep most of the day away, would really put us into a bind.  Besides that, Goddess was out there supporting me in every way possible, getting ready to sleep in the truck and then tip-toe around me in the room as I slept all day.  I just couldn’t, and wouldn’t, put her through that.  She’s my Goddess for a reason.

During mile 18, the legs started to protest their longest run (barring the marathon) since late March.  I wasn’t surprised.  But I also knew that no matter how I felt at that moment, it would change.  But my mind was already made up – I’d go four hours or 20 miles, whichever came first.  Turns out that both happened at the same time.

So I pulled off the track, informed Goddess of my decision and turned my chip in.  Being the Goddess that she is, she pressed me really hard to make sure that I was doing what I needed to do and not doing it because it was suddenly becoming more difficult.  I was quite adamant that I was.  So she acquiesced, helping me pull the shoes off and packing stuff away.

We had a pleasant drive home and slept in bed, instead of a truck or grassy field.

And I’m great with that!

 

A couple of moments:

- Watching the high school cross-country relay team get ready for a night of fun by playing Frisbee and goofing around really took me back to my cross country days.  Those were certainly some good times.

- Watching the volunteer who handed out drinks and food for a couple of hours, then run his leg of his relay team, then get back to the table to serve really impressed me.  He said we were the crazy ones, but I shook his hand for his dedication.

- With the truck parked in the infield and the tailgate facing the track, Goddess got to see the full rhythm of the run, from slow to fast, painful to fluid.  And she certainly helped.  For several laps, she held up pages from her “Shape” magazine to let me enjoy the models as I passed.

- At about three hours into the run, they had piping hot Little Caesar’s pizza delivered.  I’m not a fan, but damn it tasted good at that point.

- At about that same time, the stable workers started showing up.  Apparently they didn’t get the word that we would be using the track, so they stood there for a while trying to figure out what they were going to do, conversing on cell phones and with each other.  But mostly they leaned against the fence and enjoyed watching the women jog by.

- I broke out the mp3 player for this one.  It was a completely closed course and there was plenty of room to maneuver, unlike a trail race, so I brought it along.  Goddess suggested that I put them in, so I did.  But the battery was dead since I hadn’t used it in six months or so.  I guess that should have been something to check on the night before.

 

Closing thought:

Steve Durbin and the crew of the West Kentucky Running Club (WKRC) put on yet another great event.  They were the ones that put on the 60K trail race that I ran in March.  Not only did they put on the event and man the timing station and feed table, they ran the race.  If you are ever in the Paducah area, definitely look to see if they’re holding a race.  You WILL NOT be disappointed.

 

And we’re off to Germany.  See you on the other side.

RUTS

Run Under the Stars starts in just 2.5 hours.

Ten hours (8pm-6am) around a 1/2 mile horse track, which is packed limestone.  Should be interesting, should be boring.  Will be fun.

This is a fun run for me.  I have only very loose goals for this one – set a new distance PR of greater than 41.5 miles, or break 50 miles.

Even if I don’t achieve either one, I’ll be happy with it, considering I haven’t run in almost three weeks, we’ve been extremely busy getting the house packed and shipped to Germany, getting the vehicles to Florida and the shippers and setting everything else up.  In other words, it’s been a very hectic May.  So this is the icing on the cake.

Goddess is humoring me on this one.  She had ultimate veto authority over this one, given the timing.  Over the past couple of days she’s even expressed some doubt over fitting this in amongst the last few days here in country.  But she’s sticking it out with me.

And that’s where goal number three comes in, if neither one of the above look feasible.  Goal number three will be crawling into the car and curling up with Goddess for a couple of hours. 

I hope y’all sleep well.

Breathe!

Seriously, I needed to remind myself (and Goddess) to do just that.

Over the past couple of weeks, post-duathlon and post-CMM, we’ve been busy taking care of vehicles and getting the house packed.

Vehicles?  We had to take my ‘64 Chevy truck down to my parent’s house for storage.  It made it about halfway before the transmission went thermo-nuclear.  Seriously, on the side of the freeway that thing was white hot, boiling off all the transmission fluid.  So we drug it the rest of the way.  Then the Subbie made a trip to St Louis so it could be shipped to Germany.

Then the house was packed.

But in the meantime, a good friend made it to Nashville.  So we made a trip, had some drinks, and enjoyed his reminiscing of growing up in that town while seeing (through his eyes) how things have changed.

Then last Saturday was the Elton John/Billy Joel concert.  Three and a half hours of some of my favorite karaoke songs.  We definitely had a great time.

The last of the moves is tomorrow morning. 

And here’s a pic a couple of hours before the concert.  The shirt says it all (after the sign):

Then we finally made it to the local running club’s monthly meeting.  We got to meet Runnermom, as well as the guy who I suspected was drafting during the duathlon.  I recognized him, then when we met he said “Hey, I read your blog”.  It could have been awkward, but it wasn’t.  Good folks all around.

Finally, over the weekend Goddess prevailed and I finally set up a Facebook account.  It has been everything I feared, namely a huge time suck.  But then again, I’ve already talked to people I haven’t seen in over 20 years, so it’s a good thing.

In the meantime, man I’ve really got to get a run or two in.  Next weekend is the 10-hour overnight “Run Under the Stars”.  I haven’t put a single mile in in the past two weeks thanks to all of the other activities.  Hopefully it just means that I’m well-rested.

I may or may not get a race-report in after that one.  I finish at 6am Sunday morning, run a 5K (Run for Beer) at 5pm Sunday afternoon, then fly to Germany on Tuesday.  So I’ll fit it in when I can.

2009 Clarksville Duathlon

Why couldn’t we have had this weather last weekend.

Overnight there were flood watches and warnings issued.  It pissed down rain pretty much all night.  When we woke up at 5 am, we were drying out, with all of the rain north and south of us.  By the time we left, the hole we were in filled in, so it pissed down rain again.  But no lightning, so all was good.

Transition was set up in the rain.  The pre-race brief was held in the rain.  The start went off in the rain.  And it was 52F.  Perfect.  But it must have scared some folks off.  I don’t know how many registered, but only 24 folks showed up to race – 20 individual competitors and two 2-person teams.

The course was a 2-mile run, a 13.1-mile ride and a 2-mile run.

Mind you, other than four quick 5-mile rides this week to make sure the bike worked properly, this was the first time I had ridden since doing this race a year ago.  I was banking on my running fitness getting me through the bike leg.  Of course, running fitness was highly questionable after last Saturday’s very warm Country Music Marathon.  Typically after a Saturday marathon I’m feeling fine by Tuesday or Wednesday.  Even during a short run yesterday my legs felt like bricks.  So I really had no idea how I’d do today, but that wasn’t a worry.  This is a fun race that is all about going all out.

So the start whistle blew and we were off.  The idea was to get out quickly and then settle down.  Mind you, settle down needed to be right at LTHR.  Actually it ended up a bit higher, with most of the run in Zone 5a:

Run Leg 1, Heart Rate x Distance (with Pace)

Both Goddess and I measured a touch over 2.1 miles for the leg on our Garmin 305’s.

So that was 2.1 miles in 14:59, for an average pace of 7:06/mile and a peak of 5:55/mile,which I used to get ahead of the start line melee.

Arriving at T1, I was fourth overall.  First was way the hell in front, while second and third were about ten seconds ahead.

I forgot how much fun it is to bend over to change shoes while your heart is exploding in your chest.

Out the gate on the bike and I settled in, making sure I didn’t put too much power to the cranks in the opening miles, knowing that this was a rolling 13.1-mile course with a few turns.  Those that pushed hard in the beginning would pay dearly near then end and especially so during the final 2-mile run.

A mile in, a cyclist flew past me like I was standing still, putting me in fifth overall.  He’ll become important later.  Two miles later, I passed the guy in front of me, so I was back in fourth.  By now the rain had stopped, so it was quite pleasant. 

There was a hilarious moment at mile 4.5 as we had to negotiate a hairpin turn onto a new road.  I saw a minivan approaching the stop sign as I was slowing to make the turn.  The lady driver had her window down and was telling the volunteer that he needed to do something about the cyclists, because with the mist in the air we were impossible to see.  Mind you, in my chosen field of meteorology, surface visibility is an important parameter to observe and forecast.  I looked off at the tree line in the distance that I could clearly see, which I estimated to be 1.5-2 miles away.  I couldn’t figure out why I could see those trees, yet she couldn’t see us in the opposite lane.  For the next mile or so I calculated that she must have been traveling in the neighborhood of 750 mph in order to not have the appropriate reaction time.

I want that van!

Anyway, as I said, the course had some rolling hills.  Here’s a shot of the Garmin-calculated grade, with a curve of my speed (blue line) overlaid:

Bike Leg, Grade x Distance (with Speed overlay)

Between miles eight and nine, I was passed, putting me back in fifth.  The much older gentleman that flew by had some speed.  Immediately thereafter, the guy that I passed between miles three and four passed and asked if this was a drafting race.  I found it interesting that he was able to catch and pass me, since he was a couple of hundred yards behind me when I passed the lady with the amazingly fast van and fell ever further behind with each mile after that.  I replied “No, it’s a USAT-rules race”.  He should have known what type of race it was, since they handed out a USAT rule crib sheet with every registration packet.  I passed him a second time about a half-mile later.  I don’t know if he was drafting; only he knows that.  But his bridge up to me was while I was maintaining a 22mph average through that stretch is pretty impressive.

In the last mile, I saw first and second heading out on their last run leg.  Soon after, a woman went flying by too.  Turns out that the guy who flew by me at mile one of the bike leg was part of a team.  So that meant I was fourth overall in the solo division.

And to the right I am on my (archaic by triathlon standards) Softride with old, old-school Spinergy’s as I dismount going into T2. 

I am quite upset that they no longer make those bikes and I can’t have another for my next bike.

Considering that I had only 20 miles in my cycling legs for the past year, I was very, very pleased with my bike leg.  Goddess and I both measured 13.33 on our Garmin’s.  I covered the distance in 40:12, for an average speed of 20.37 mph.  Not too shabby.

I hit T2 in fourth overall and flew through.  The much older gentleman that rolled in to T2 in front of me arrived at least a minute before, but I exited right on his tail and passed him within 100 yards, putting me in third.  Then I settled in to work.  This time I knew I’d be cranking the legs as hard as they’d go.  I focused on my turnover and tried to keep the cadence high.

Run Leg 2, Heart Rate x Distance (with Pace overlay)

We were running out one mile, turning around an orange cone and heading back in.  At about 3/4 mile, I heard feet behind me.  Turns out it was the guy that asked about drafting.  He had some wheels on him.  Much more than I had.  We hit the turnaround at the same time and he pulled steadily away after that.  At this point I settled in for a bit, waiting to see if he would tire.  With a half-mile to go, he did slow, so I ratcheted up the pace.  He turned around and saw me coming, so he picked it up and held me off through the finish line.  So I finished fourth overall amongst the solo racers, first in my age group.

For the last leg, since the exit to transition was in a different place than the start line, I measured the advertised 2-mile run at 2.15 miles, covered in 15:52, for a 7:22/mi average.  Not as evenly paced as the first leg, but still not too shabby.  Especially with the 6:17/mi pace as I crossed the finish line (below left).

This was the second edition of the Clarksville Duathlon.  If you read last year’s race report, you’ll recall that they had some issues, which are to be expected with a first-run event.  I can guarantee you that they more than overcame those issues and put on a high class event this year. 

I also have to give the organizers a huge congratulations for picking such a great cause to give all of the proceeds to – Fisher House.  As you may recall, I ran a donation drive for Fisher House last year as I was preparing to run my 40-miler in Baghdad.  And if you come to this post from my blog’s main page, you’ll see that the link to Fisher House remains in the upper left.  I maintain that it’s a great cause to support, so if you’d like to, please click and donate.  I get nothing from it (I already got my t-shirt), so don’t worry, all of your donation goes directly to Fisher House.

So if you are anywhere near the area next May, I highly recommend this event.  The timing, one week after the Country Music Marathon, is perfect.  It forced me to get out on the bike and spin my legs to loosen them up.

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Now it’s time to look forward. 

If you stayed awake through my post about planning and Training Load, you’ll recall the segment on Training Influence.  If you didn’t stay awake that long, the gist of it is that based on my personal recovery rate, the training that would have the most influence on my next race would typically be approximately 28-32 days prior to the race.  After that, there’s diminishing influence until the my taper date, which is typically 10-12 days prior to the race.  After the taper date, no amount of training will have a positive influence on the race, so that’s the time to back off and let the body rest.

Anyway, since my next race is on May 30th, my calculated max training effect date was yesterday.  But I clearly didn’t go out and crank out a 20-miler.  No way.  Not after last week’s very warm marathon.  However, the marathon, even though it took a lot out of me, could have a huge positive influence on the outcome of the race at the end of the month.  Much like the 60K I ran in mid-March had a huge positive influence on my ability to survive last weekend’s very warm marathon.

So if you are in the Paducah, KY area at the end of May, meet me for a fun run, otherwise known as RUTS.  Run five, 13, 26, 50 or 60 miles.  Your call.  But having fun is mandatory.